Drorit's Glasswork.

My mother-in-law is studying glasswork. Take a look at some of her designs for serving dishes. Most of these items are for sale.

Rimonim.

Yesterday we went to visit a friend of the missus, who lives in Rimonim (heb). Rimonim is a small settlement in the Matteh Binyamin regional council, some 30km East of Jerusalem. We usually don't make a habit of crossing the line between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but this time we were assured that the area is quiet, and there's no particular danger in driving off the beaten track. There was a scary moment at one point, when we accidentally entered the market in Calandia, but I remembered my army days, and quickly found the road that bypasses Ramallah. After a 20 minutes ride we were there. A beautiful small village, red roofs, half-dunam lots, and a breathtaking view down the Jordan valley. You can see Jericho and the Dead Sea way below, Jerusalem behind you, and Ma'ale Adumim in between. It's so quiet and peaceful. The man who lives there said he was looking to get "away from it all", and I must admit that he quite made it. He has no TV, no internet, and no land phone line. His kids are running barefoot in the house and in the Japanese garden he built by himself. He cooked us a gourmet meal (which I could hardly ingest because I don't eat onions) and took us sightseeing in the village. The villagers aren't religious people, and there's nothing I could pinpoint that brought them to that place. Their property is practically unsellable, and their taxes aren't much lower than what we pay in Kfar Yona. There's nowhere to work, except in Jerusalem. So what's bringing them there, with their kids going to school in armored busses every day? Is it the feeling of being on top of the world, or is it plain old zionism?...

Rimonim Images.

( our host, in the ruined castle )

( Japanese garden fragment )